“It takes a village to raise a child”
My philosophy on working with parents and families of the students that I work with can be easily summed up into 3 components: mutual respect, trust/honesty and open communication.
I believe that to get respect you have to give respect first. I truly have respect for every parent, guardian or family member that I meet. I dedicate my time, patience and skills to the children that I work with but just as importantly to their families. I do my best to be professional, but compassionate to the feelings, opinions, concerns and anxieties that the families are encountering on a daily basis. I contact parents on regular basis to let them know if there are some concerns or to tell them how well their child is doing. I encourage parents to call or email me any concerns, questions, issues or information that pertains to their child. I strive to answer and address all their concerns in a timely manner. I like using Twitter so that parents can see what we do everyday. I have received a lot of positive feedback from parents about my Tweets. They like to see the pictures and videos I post. I have also made the class website with the parents in mind. Everything is explained and made to be comprehensive for parents, as well as, students. Example : " I can " statements explained for parents. Here are some sample Newsletters ; Web Page for parents; invitation to Readers Theater ; Twitter and YouTube Channel. |
Making friends and keeping friendsIncreasingly, in the last few years parents have come to me with the concern that their child has no friends or feels left out. It appears that parents think that there is something I can do about such situations. The reality is that, while I can discuss the situation in class and appoint that a child play with another, I cannot demand that one child befriend another. Friendship depends upon mutual admiration and respect. People with similar likes and dislikes, similar personalities and similar outlooks most often become friends.
In our modern culture, often with both parents working, the lives of children are, more and more, becoming organized and structured by their parents. Children no longer have long periods of minimally supervised time. Consequently, children are increasingly becoming unskilled at making friends and creating positive pro-social games. They wait for adults to do it for them. Such a situation is a disaster from a social point of view. The best thing for parents to do is to teach their children how to make friends and keep friends. Discuss these topics frequently with your children and encourage them to have several friends over at a time. Instead of intervening with their struggles, talk about alternatives and let them decide how to solve the problems. Intervene only if violence occurs. Such action will give them the social skills necessary to make their way through the often difficult social situations in which they find themselves as adults. In class we constantly talk about how to make friends and how to be a good friend. It is in our Christian curriculum that we should treat one another, as we would want to be treated. I will continue to teach then and encourage them to get along. Parents lets work together to help children build the social skills needed to feel accepted and make friends. |
january_newsletter2015.pdf | |
File Size: | 137 kb |
File Type: |
november_newsletter_.pdf | |
File Size: | 328 kb |
File Type: |
october_newsletter_.pdf | |
File Size: | 209 kb |
File Type: |
january_newsletter.pdf | |
File Size: | 137 kb |
File Type: |
february_newsletter.pdf | |
File Size: | 365 kb |
File Type: |